Mussels Power

Sadly we don't have a full-on fishmonger in the town where I live - it closed down about eight years ago. Our top-predator town supermarket has a fresh fish counter, which earns it a tick, but it's often not too inspiring. Mostly fillets of cod, haddock and salmon plus whole salmon and trout with a few crustaceans - prawns, shrimp and so on on display. Though you can ask for scallops and other stuff if you want, but they're usually frozen.

The supermarket in the next town has a good fish counter, much more interesting and yesterday my wife did the shopping there and came triumphantly back with three lovely bags of fresh Scots mussels, in the shell. I was a little worried that having been trucked so far they might be dying by the dozen but no - they toughed it out in the bottom of the 'fridge. When I took them out to clean them they were stunning to look at, ranging from that inky blue-black we usually associate with mussels to a light brown colour shot through with almost pearl-white stripes.

I put them in to cold water and pulled out the beards and cleaned the shells of rubbish, bits of limpet and other stuff. This is the worst bit of preparing Moules Mariniere (for it was that), having to put your hands in very cold water and spending a half-hour or so to clean the crud off and check for opened or otherwise dodgy mussels - those which are broken or open so should NOT be cooked and eaten. A couple of chopped red onions went in to a large casserole pot with olive oil and were softened over a low heat (about 15 minutes). Then I whacked up the heat and tipped the mussels in and put the lid on. Two or three minutes later I checked them, a few were opening so in went the best part of a bottle of Muscadet - you must keep a glass of white wine back for the cook. As soon as the liquor came up to the boil I turned the heat down to simmer and put the lid on - checking every two or three minutes to see if the mussels were opening.

All open? Yes, so tip them in to a large bowl then remove the mussels to a warmed, large dish and put them in the oven on a very low heat to keep them warm. I put the liquor back in to the casserole and added a couple of generous spoons of creme fraiche - ok, I put half a tub in - and whisked it up, then put the heat back on and brought the liqour up to a gentle simmer and allowed it to reduce. Poured the mussels back in and let it all simmer for a few minutes.

Place the mussels in warmed serving bowls and add a generous load of the liqour. Sprinkle chopped parsley over them and serve with french or any good crusty, fresh bread and some butter. This is fantastic on a cold winter night when you want something hearty which you will eat mostly with your fingers, scooping the mussles from their shells with the half shell of a used mussel.

A note on grit. Sometimes when mussels open during cooking they release grit, sand and other stuff which can sit in the liquor and if not got rid of, can ruin the meal if it gets in to the serving bowls. It can be got shot of by pouring the liquor in to a big bowl through muslin (or a clean dish cloth if all else fails)then returning the liquor to the heat. But sometimes the mussels have been grown in lovely clear, clean water on rope or sticks and produce very little grit or sand. You just have to check.

But it's a fantastic meal - the first I ever did with shellfish about 25 years ago and I never tire of it.

As you can tell by the length of this post.